Advent of micro-reactors has revolutionized the ways of carrying out process chemistry research in the last two decades. A large number of important reactions which otherwise could not have been carried out in an effective manner can now be easily carried out in micro-reactors by virtue of their improved mixing, heat transfer and mass transfer characteristics. Many micro-reactors are being widely used, and their scaled-up versions are available in a variety of materials viz. metals, polymers, ceramic, and glass. The metallic micro-reactors not only offer high heat transfer area per unit volume, small mixing lengths, high mass transfer rates (depending upon the channel geometry), but also give a very strong and robust option for process development from the laboratory scale to the commercial scales. However, while said metallic micro-reactors are robust, they are not useful for carrying out a large number of reactions which involve the use of corrosive chemicals. The aforementioned drawbacks of metallic micro-reactors may be overcome with the use of glass micro-reactors, which offer excellent corrosion resistance, sterility, and visibility.
However, glass micro-reactors also suffer from drawbacks. For instance, they are monolithic, are typically unable to withstand high pressure, and need delicate handling due to their inherently fragile properties. These limitations of the stand-alone metal micro-reactors and the stand-alone glass micro-reactors bring out the need for the development and use of a glass lined metal micro-reactor which offers the advantages of both the types of reactors in a synergistic manner. To overcome the drawbacks of the micro-rectors available in the art, the present application discloses a novel glass lined micro-reactor which is able to function without losing the key advantages of the currently available micro-reactors.